Buyers premium

I think buyers' premiums are a complete rort thought up by greedy auctioneers. I would be surprised if they charge the seller any less commission because of it. The stupid buyers could have stopped it at the start if we had all refused to buy when it was announced. I even went to an auction a few years ago when the auctioneer wanted us to pay a few dollars for a catalogue! I asked if a man whose name is that of the auction house was still running the company. I said I was with him the day he got his first Mercedes Benz car. (true but I did not really know the man and only spoke to him after he had collected his car) I complained about the cost of catalogues and he said that there is very little money in auctions for the auction house. Ha ha, they make thousands for sometimes only one day's work. I bet they charge the seller heaps when they have to spend days setting out and cataloguing everything.

My other hate is on-line auctions. I want to see before I buy. I know they must be much cheaper for the auctioneer and to hell with the buyers.

I like to get a look at who I’m bidding against you can get a bit of an idea wether your in with a chance or wether you just watch you can also get a bit of an idea if the auctioneer is running you oh no that’s right they never do anything like that do they

Bluey

Bluey60 wrote:

I like to get a look at who I’m bidding against you can get a bit of an idea wether your in with a chance or wether you just watch you can also get a bit of an idea if the auctioneer is running you oh no that’s right they never do anything like that do they

Bluey

Of course not Bluey60, if they did that they would be as bad as used car salesmen.

A new shonky practice I have recently become aware of is adding a credit card processing fee without telling the customer about. Last haircut I got was quoted at one price and the charge was higher. Today my Wife and I had lunch at a cafe and the cost was quoted as $21.50. I was charged $21.85.

I know the law is now that a seller may charge a fee not exceeding what the card use actually costs them but They are still required to tell the customer of it.

Let's face it during Covid the banks have pushed us to pay for everything by card, so that we are now in the habit of doing it but the merchants were not supposed to add the fee.

Yes,plenty of new and extra fees .......buy a vehicle you re up for a state register search fee,a security release fee ,and even a "key fee" ....there may also be a delivery fee for a storeman to run a big fork under the vehicle and bend the tailshaft...........incidentally ,buying at auction does NOT guarantee title ,except in the case where the the auctioneer is a licensed motor vehicle dealer,and you buy a registered vehicle ...........chattel auctioneers cannot give better title than that held by the vendor..........the auctioneer acts as agent for the vendor ,except in cases like Ritchie Brothers where they are the vendor .

That is fair enough to charge the fee. A good mate of mine buys bloodhouse pubs and turns them into family hotels with bistros etc.

He told me that American Express takes 3% for their transactions. His margin is tight at 10%. This means if he does not add the charge he works free for Amex for 4 1/2 months of the year or put another way Amex take about 1/3 of his profit.

The other companies take less but same penalty on a tightly run business.

Lang

Everyone charges card transaction fees now,even Aldi ........moral of the story ....the banks get richer,you get poorer.

8 or 10 years when buyer's premium started to be applied, I beat my auction addiction, I have enough crap I don't need any more, and I am thankful to the rip of auctioneers for helping me arrive at that point, I have never paid buyers premium.

I copped it a few times when it was under 5%.......about that time the auctions started to get crooked too......claim youd bought stuff they were running up and got left with,pulled multiple bids in seconds and land you with bids you didnt make .............i got no complaints ,i made lots of money from the auctions before about 1990 ,and by then all they had to sell was broken junk and Chinese imports...never dabbled in cars ...you need a dealers licence now ,and there are a million back yarders who seem to fly under the state government s radar

Dad used to buy about 100 store lambs to feed us for the year. Bid a pen up to 22 bob, the other cockies dropped off bidding but the agent kept finding bids. He lost his place, so asked,’whose are they’? Dad said,’they are yours’. Knocked them down to dad at his last bid of 22 bob.
One auctioneer used to end up with one or more pens of sheep each sale. Boss had a paddock, so we’d take them there until he could on sell them.